Crews are continuing to clear the South Klondike Highway today after a rock slide, caused by the heavy rains, closed the road in and out of Skagway Friday morning.

The road reopened to one lane Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Traffic continues to be down to one lane between kilometres 54 and 60 and is only open from 8 a.m. until midnight each day “for the foreseeable future” until clean up is complete, said Highways and Public Works spokeswoman Alicia Debreceni.

It’s estimated 10,000 to 12,000 cubic metres of material – rocks, debris and the like – came down with the major slide with another estimated three to five slides in the area. Material from the smaller slides did not impact the road as it ended up in the ditch or along the side.

The Yukon government will continue updating its 511yukon.ca website with information on the highway as well as other roads throughout the territory.

Friday’s rainfall of nearly 31 millimetres in the Whitehorse area could well be the highest of any day in July since records began being kept in 1942.

Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist said this morning officials are still confirming if that is indeed the case, but he’s expecting that it is.

It has been confirmed as a record for July 4, he said, noting that the previous record came on July 4 of last year when 28.3 millimetres fell in the area.

He noted while rain in Skagway isn’t out of the ordinary, what made this different is the precipitation came from the Northwest Territories. As he explained storms in Alberta wrapped around north through the N.W.T. and moved west to the southeast Yukon and into Alaska.

It wasn’t just drivers headed to Skagway Saturday that felt the impact.

While many Whitehorse softball players were unable to get the annual ball tournament set for Independence Day weekend in Skagway, those who went early and were already camped next to the ball diamonds had to stay elsewhere by Friday afternoon.

That’s when Skagway’s Chief of Police Ray Leggett received a notification that the Skagway River was in danger of flooding and evacuated the area as a precautionary measure.

“It wasn’t worth the risk,” he said.

There were about 10 camped on the site when he decided to evacuate.

“It was going to be packed,” he said.

Along with those from Whitehorse planning to stay there during the ball tournament were a large number arriving by ferry from Juneau and Haines.

Barricades were put up to let people know about the situation and police made sure the campers had other places to stay. The campers, he said, understood the situation and were “amicable” to moving elsewhere.

The river didn’t end up flooding, but Leggett said “it was getting close.”

Had it flooded, it could have been a “dire” situation for those staying so near the river.

While Leggett was making the decision to evacuate the camping area, Environment Yukon was making sure campers on this side of the border were protected as well.

Two of three sections at the Kusawa Lake campground were closed in case of flooding as well as three of 41 campsites at the Wolf Creek Campground due to water overflow.

Environment Yukon spokeswoman Melissa Madden said this morning crews were heading to the campgrounds today to assess the situation.

It will update its campground availability site at www.env.gov.yk.ca/camping-parks/campground_availability.php once crews have looked at it.

Meanwhile, Air Canada passengers coming in on the 1:45 p.m. flight Friday had to turn around and return to Vancouver when the plane couldn’t land due to the rain. Passengers were rebooked on the evening and Saturday morning flight, officials said.